A couple in their 60's, a 1940's army building turned into a 3 bedroom cottage, 2.5 acres, vegetable and herbal gardens, goats, chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, Great Pyrenees, rescue dogs and cats, living as simple and frugal as possible. That is what you will find written about here. Thank you for stopping by. Share anything you like and ask any questions you wish!

Friday, March 29, 2013

Edited to add a big thank you to Texgirl and Betsy! By switching over to Feedly I was able to retrieve the blogs I had in google reader!! Thank you ladies so much as there was no way I could have gotten them back on my own. Not sure if its just a glitch in google reader but I keep getting a message "no longer available" when I try to go to google reader. I even tried just going to my google page to try to pull up reader and got the same message. Everyone might want to switch to a different reader soon.
Google reader took away the blogs I was following in google reader!! I knew they were going to as I had heard the rumor but thought they would give us a warning. I heard nothing from them at all and yesterday my reading list disappeared! I have some of the blogs on a reading list I made on a blog page but it was so easy to add new ones to my reading list instead of manually adding them to my blog page. I have lost so many wonderful blogs and I am so mad!!! So if you haven't already lost your google blog reading list go RIGHT NOW and add them to your bookmarks or something before they are gone forever.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Anyone that has read much of my blog knows how much I love and miss my NC mountains. Well after months and months of talking about it we are moving back to my mountains! We are going to live in a small cabin next door to my daughter Melody and family. We will be a few minutes drive from daughter Megan and family while being less than 2 hours from daughter Maggie and family. We have a nice goat pen and pasture for our goats (we are still going to downsize) a nice big chicken run (downsizing them too) as well as duck pen and rabbit cages. We will be working on finding most of our animals good homes before moving and taking only a few of each with us. I will be going up for a week in April to paint, set out plants, flowers, herbs, etc that we are taking from here. The plan is for me to move in June and William to follow before August. We will have to come back once a month for awhile to sort and get rid of stuff but we have a sweet friend that is going to rent our house. I am so excited to be back in my mountains with my family and be able to go back to the church I enjoy going to. Lots to do between now and June but Hidden Haven Homestead is looking forward to being out of the heat and humidity of eastern NC and back in the wonderful mountains where snow actually falls in the winter.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Today I turned the big 60. This number doesn't seem to bother me for some reason. The only birthday that really hit hard was my 43rd. Don't know why but boy was I depressed when I turned 43. Before heading back home grandson Harvey and I made my birthday cake. He loved the pig in mud cake!

This birthday except for normal aches and pains that people my age have I am in pretty good health. I need to move on from reading glasses to prescription because my eyesight sucks but again that is a age thing. I am able to to do chores around the homestead with just a tiny bit of complaining. Again age does things to your back. I am still able to garden, work in the yard and do housework without falling down, though I do have a hard time getting back up when I kneel to pull weeds. I still have most of my sense about me. Don't ask my family to agree on that one. (smile) My grandparents all lived to be in their 80's with one grandma living to a couple days shy of her 103rd birthday. A great grandmother lived to be 100. My mother was in her 80's and dad was in his 70's before passing away so guess I have a few years left in me. My daughter Megan called me the other night laughing. She and Barry were talking about nursing homes and she told him she needed to call me. So happy to know nursing homes remind my daughter of me. The one thing about birthdays is I seem to love myself a little more and enjoy life a lot more. Time goes way too fast as you get older and you so want to slow it down. I am very blessed to be 60 years old. I am very blessed to have a wonderful family and friends. I am very blessed however I look at this day.... my your day be overflowing with blessings.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Pop Pop has taken Harvey back home. His dad is going through more chemo and radiation treatments as his cancer has came back. This time in his liver. His mom had transferd to VA with her job but is moving back to NC this weekend to make things easier for the family. Her company is wonderful about working with her. William is helping them move so that leaves the animals and I to ourselves this weekend. So far we are enjoying the peace and quiet. Bella and Rusty are being excellent guardian dogs by letting me know if anything moves outside that is not suppose to. Tinker and Tramp are guarding the goats so all is well. I have gotten floors, swept and mopped, rugs vacuumed, laundry caught up, kitchen and diningroom cleaned, and now getting ready to start on livingroom. Tomorrow I will tackle our bedroom. It is where everything seems to get dumped if you don't know where to put it. Trying to clean out cabinets, drawers, closets, and get rid of stuff. The rain we are again having will keep outside chores on hold except feedings so hopefully I will accomplish a lot inside.
I am sorry I ask you to watch Wife Swap. Ang is a sweet, kind, Christian lady but she didn't come off very well that way in the show. I was disappointed in the way she talked to the other wife and husband when they all met at the end. I am sure they edit and make things more dramatic but Ang shouldn't have said she was taking nothing back from the experience when the other wife cried and talked about how much she loved Ang's children and was going to change things when she got back home.

Trees and flowers are blooming away even with the cold nights around. Guess spring is going to make her appearance afterall. Have a blessed day!

Thursday, March 21, 2013

I don't usually watch these shows but tonight on ABC Wife Swap a fellow blogger and family will be on the show. Ang lives on a 40 acre farm and until a few months ago they lived completely off grid. No electric, no bathroom, cooking and heating with wood. Getting ice from the lake to use in their icebox. Homemaker Ang is a wonderful, sweet, Christian lady that handles more in a day than most of us do in a week. So tonight at 8PM EST tune in and see our blog neighbor and family change lives for a few days.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Sorry I haven't been posting. Trying to get seedlings started, get the seedlings that have grown transplanted to bigger pots, hand turning over 200 eggs in our big old incubator 3 times a day, starting to sell Bella's puppies, the flock swap, making soaps and getting ready for the craft fair at the end of month, keeping up with grandson Harvey, and the normal day to day things I have sadly been too lazy to post. Have goat baby photos and puppy photos I will post tomorrow (can't find camera) and some cute stories to share about grandson and some of the animals. Hope everyone had a blessed Saint Patrick's Day and I promise to do better about posting as I really have been popping in to see what you guys have been up to each night before I fall asleep on the sofa before going to bed. :)

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Thursday, March 7, 2013

The rain is finally over for a few days and I am getting plants started while the sun shines. The greenhouse is all ready for seedlings as soon as it warms up enough. I do take the seedlings to the greenhouse during the day and then carry them all back inside. For Valentines Day I got a mini greenhouse that is inside where we are starting the seedlings. I have a tray of herbs and a tray of tomatoes ready to be moved into bigger pots and I have tons of seeds I need to get started. Now that kidding season is over I can devote more time to starting seedlings. But since its suppose to be in the 60's the next few days I have lots to get done outside. I think I love the winter so well is I get a little break from so many things pulling me in different directions. Spring brings lots more things to get done and there is not much time to rock by the fire, relax, and read a book. Oh well, I have next winter to look forward to.

Friday, March 1, 2013

Buttons had twin bucklings this morning. Mom and babies are doing great. Tarragon (because he is already a terror) and Nettles (don't touch me!) act more like 3 or 4 days old kids instead of a few hours old. They are nursing great, running, hiding from mom and not answering her cries, chasing a rooster, just things newborn kids don't usually do. They are such fun to watch. Basil (Lil Vicki's baby) is doing some better. She is starting to be a mommy to him but now he doesn't want her. Yesterday he nursed easy but today not so well. I spend time every couple hours trying to get him to nurse. He is one stubborn little buckling. Kidding season is over this year and we ended up with 4 boys and 1 girl. The girl (Rosemary) will become part of our dairy herd and the boys will be sold at 3 months of age.... no matter how attached I am! LOL